HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Steve Francis and Lamar Odom had to share
last season's Rookie of the Year Award. But this game belonged
to Odom.

Odom had 19 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds as the Los
Angeles Clippers snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 101-84
rout of the Houston Rockets.

Francis did not start the game due to undisclosed personal
reasons but began the second half and collected 12 points, three
rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes.

The Clippers shot 52 percent (44-of-85) from the field,
including 6-of-11 from 3-point range, and committed a season-low
six turnovers.

"The big thing is is that we made shots," Clippers coach Alvin
Gentry said. "It's not like we havent been playing hard or
trying, but in the NBA you've got to make shots and score points
and that's what we did."

Eric Piatkowski scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and Corey
Maggette added 11 points while going 5-of-8 from the floor for
Los Angeles, which ended its longest slide of the season and a
seven-game losing streak at the Compaq Center.

"When you're losing, everybody is irritated and tempers are
short," Gentry said. "We need anything to give us a positive
reason that we're a good team."

"It's a burden off our shoulders," Odom said. "Everyday people
tell us how long the losing streak is. Hopefully this is the
start of something big."

Los Angeles' Jeff McInnis scored 14 points before leaving with
an ankle injury with 3:10 left in the third quarter.

Despite the return of Francis in the second half, the Rockets
did not play well in third quarter, shooting just 38 percent
(6-of-16) from the floor and 25 percent (1-of-4) from 3-point
range.

"Somewhere along the line we lost it and I don't know where the
(heck) it went," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "The last
two minutes we had a couple of aggressive plays but the rest of
the game was not there."

Los Angeles broke it open in the third quarter after building a
50-36 halftime lead. The Clippers shot 58 percent (11-of-19)
and made 3-of-4 from beyond the arc in the period, outscoring
Houston 27-13.

"We knew in the second half the key was to come out and keep
scoring and not let them think they could get back in,"
Piatkowski said. "It was important for us to break their backs
in the first five minutes of the second half."

Houston had its last lead, 6-5, early in the first quarter
before the Clippers made a 17-6 run -- led by nine points from
McInnis -- to take its first double digit lead, 22-12, with 58
seconds left. Carlos Rogers sank an 18-footer at the buzzer to
pull Los Angeles within eight after one quarter.

The Rockets were outscored 11-2 on the break.

"We were horrible on the break," Tomjanovich said. "I don't even
remember us scoring on it."

Former Clipper Maurice Taylor had 16 points and six rebounds and
Cuttino Mobley scored 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting for Houston,
which had not lost to Los Angeles twice in the same season since
1991-92.

The crowd of 11,124 booed the Rockets periodically in the second
half.

"If I were a fan I would've done the same thing," Francis said.
"We got whooped by a young, inexperienced NBA team."